Do What You Fear
by StarSixtyNine
Summary: Do what you fear and fear will disappear. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." MattxOC, oneshot.


**A/N: So I, being a dork, am going to attempt another way to write. Instead of wracking my brain for an idea of what to write, I'm going to go by a word. Prompts I think they're called. Because I think dictionaries are awesome, I'll be picking my words out of dictionaries. Woot. OC is unnamed because once again, I'm too lazy to think of anything.**

**I own nothing.**

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_Word: _**Fear.**

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Her eyes opened to adjust to the dark room, only to squirm and squeal when she heard rumbling thunder, meaning that lightning was near. Now, the rain, she didn't mind. In fact, she quite loved it, and was filled with glee when she heard that there was a ninety percent chance of rain in their city that night.

But when she heard that thunderstorms would accompany that rain, her insides turned. She didn't like thunder, at all.

Well, to clarify, she didn't like loud noises. So thunder really took the cake.

The sleeping rock next to her, better known as Matt, seemed to think that was hilarious. When the Fourth of July came around, he'd buy the really expensive explosives like M-80s, which he lovingly referred to as Cherry Bombs.

He'd set off Cherry Bombs closest to where he knew she would be after six PM, the kitchen.

"_Matt!_" she would scream after he came in, laughing up a storm. "That wasn't funny!"

Apparently, he thought it was.

She was pulled from her thoughts after a flash of light came into her line of vision, signaling lightning.

"Fuck my life," she muttered, throwing her forearm over her eyes, shielding her vision from Mother Nature's fury.

"Hey," Matt said groggily, slinging an arm around her waist protectively. "Get some sleep."

"That's impossible!" she softly exclaimed, her arm still on her face. "There's fucking thunder and lightning outside and I am just _so_ sorry that I can't sleep through things like you can."

"I will never understand why you're scared of loud noises," Matt sighed, hugging her and pulling her closer.

"I just don't," she said blandly. "Go back to sleep, Mattie. I didn't mean to wake you."

"I can't sleep with you all scared like this."

"You're leaving tomorrow." She turned around in his arms to face him and placed a hand on his cheek. "I don't want you all tired because your girlfriend is afraid of natural phenomena."

Matt shook his head. "You're going to sleep, and you know why?"

She glanced at the raven-haired North Carolinian oddly. "Why?"

"Because you're going to conquer this. Get up."

Before she had time to question him or smack him upside the head for being so stubborn, she was up and over his shoulder in record time.

"Matt, where are you taking me?" she demanded to know. Matt stepped down the stairs with ease.

He didn't answer, just continued his casual stroll through the expansive home before she found herself facing the polished mahogany wood door. She blinked.

His lips met her ear, and his breath tickled the side of her face. "Now, I know you're grown. And I know that this'll probably sound immature and not creative, but I'm no Jeff…," he trailed off, chuckling lightly.

"Get to the point, Matt," she turned to him with her arms crossed, having a feeling where her boyfriend was going, and she didn't like it one bit.

"You're gonna go outside," he drawled, his voice now more alert since he'd been awake. "And play in the rain."

Her eyes went as wide as saucers. "_What?_"

"You heard me. Now go on," he motioned to the door.

"Let's not and say I did," she smiled sarcastically at him before attempting to make a beeline back to the bedroom.

Clearly, today was not her day. Matt encircled his arms around her waist and with no true effort pulled her back to him. Her back was to his chest again, and she was breathing heavily.

"Calm down," Matt spoke soothingly into her ear. He felt her tense body relax a little in his arms and smiled. "My old man told me something when I was about seven or eight years old, and I still think of it today."

"What, don't zip up your fly too quickly?" She spoke, trying to make light of the situation. Maybe sarcasm would make him let her go.

"No, although that advice is vital in every man's life," he laughed softly. "But he told me something. Do what you fear and fear will disappear."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"It's the stupidest thing I've heard, too," Matt agreed, his grip still firmly on the woman's waist. "But ya know what? It works."

She sighed grumpily. "Can't we just go back to bed?"

He raised an inquisitive eyebrow in her direction. "And what were you going to do? Lay there scared shitless for another six hours?"

"That was the plan."

The next thing she knew, she was on flat on her ass in the freezing rain, staring up at the eldest Hardy, who had a smirk on his face.

"See? That's not so bad," he shrugged.

"Matt, what the hell?!" She exclaimed. Before she could stand or berate him any further, a bright light flashed in the sky, and a loud crack rang in her ears.

_Fuck._

The soaking wet woman scrambled her way to her feet, although she was momentarily blinded by her hair, which stuck to her face from the pouring rain. Matt blocked the doorway, causing the woman to curse and punch him in the chest as hard as she could.

Did it hurt? Yes. Did he move? No.

"Do what you fear," he started, looking her straight in the eyes. "And fear will disappear."

"Matt," she whispered, small tears lining her eyes. "I can't."

Matt sighed before he grabbed her arm and pulled her to him, picking her up and maneuvering her onto his back.

"What are you doing?!" she asked bewildered as her legs wrapped tightly around his waist and her arms gripped his shoulders firmly.

"Well right now, _I'm_ facing _your_ fear. You'd better love me for this."

And that's when he took off.

Her high-pitched screams and squeals were loud enough to make anyone go deaf in the ears, but Matt simply ignored it and accelerated his pace, making his way around his property.

She begged and pleaded with him to stop, to take her back into the house, but he wouldn't budge. He kept running, determined to help his girlfriend with her dilemma.

When it came time for the third trip around the house, he was tired. He never realized how…_big_ the house was. He didn't realize that his girlfriend was smiling ear to ear and giggling, and that the thundering had ceased. The rain was beginning to lighten up, although it was still raining hard.

"Matt, babe," she said, whispering into his ear, a light and airy tone in her voice. "You can stop now."

He regripped the backs of her thighs and carried her back to the house, winded from the impromptu exercise. Once they made their way inside the house, he let her down on her feet, and she hugged him from behind.

"Hmm?" He hummed in form of a question as he wiped his wet hair out of his face.

"Thank you," she spoke as she let him go and walked upstairs to take a warm shower.

About an hour later, they were in fresh clothes and securely in bed, Matt's arms protectively around her waist. The clock read fifteen minutes to two.

"So," he nuzzled her neck as he took in the scent of her Ocean Breeze shampoo. "You faced your fear."

"That I did."

"And did it work?"

"I suppose we'll find that out when it starts to thunder again."

Both laid in silence as they listened to each other's breathing, and sooner, the rain started to pick up again.

Both were a bit startled when the loudest rumble of the night came, and her breathing slowed down after a few seconds. She yawned and snuggled further into Matt's embrace. "Your father was a smart man."

**End**

**I had fun with this actually. It's a release from the week of finals and swim meets and blah. I'm going on break until July so I should be writing a lot more.**

**Review?**


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